# data[].attributes.body
Definition: The argument that information and truth pertaining to the belief exists, but is only inaccessible because those in power has an interest in suppressing it.
Connection: The Shroud of Turin was supposedly recovered by crusaders during one of their forays into the east, specifically the sack of Constantinople in 1204. Why wasn't there more mention of Jesus Christ's burial shroud in the Christian Byzantine sources? Why did the crusaders (by definition, warriors with a vested interest in religion) let such a sacred relic spend two to three hundred years in obscurity before letting it reappear in the public eye in Italy?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is the Turin Shroud?

The Turin Shroud is a linen cloth, measuring 4.37 metres in length and 1.13 metres wide. It is the cloth, which was used to wrap the naked body of Jesus Christ, when taken down from the cross and placed in his tomb, by Joseph of Arimathae.

Upon the cloth, one can observe a faint image of a naked man, purported to be displaying a beard. Marks would indicate where they crucified him upon the cross, nailing him through his hands and feet. One can observe the mark, where he bled, when a Roman soldier, thrust his spear into his side.

In 1204, Knights Templar obtained what is known as the Turin Shroud, as Constantinople fell to the crusaders, in the Fourth Crusade.

Knight Templar, Geoffrey de Charney had been burnt alongside Jaques de Molay at the stake, on charges of heresy on the 18 th March 1314, in the shadow of the Notre Dame in Paris.

Madame de Charney, the widow of Geoffrey de Charney's bephew, produced the cloth, the "Shroud of Turin" in 1357. It was put up on display in a church in Troyes, France. The Cluny Museum of Paris displays the arms of De Charney, along with a pilgrim medallion showing the Shroud.

In 1453, Margaret de Charney, bequeathed the Shroud to the House of Savoy.

In 1532, the Shroud suffered from fire damage, where it was being be stored; the Chambery Chapel in the Savoy region. Poor Clare Nuns repaired the damage using patches to the rear.

In 1578, the Shroud was transferred to Turin.

Repairs to the Shroud were undertaken in 1694 by Sebastian Valfre, in 1868 by Clotilde of Savoy. Then in 1983 the Shroud was given to the Holy See.

In 1997, fire threatened the Shroud, and in 2002, the cloth was restored.

(Image) Turin Shroud: ancient-origins

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is the Turin Shroud? The Turin Shroud is a linen cloth, measuring 4.37 metres in length and 1.13 metres wide. It is the cloth, which was used to wrap the naked body of Jesus Christ, when taken down from the cross and placed in his tomb, by Joseph of Arimathae.

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: The tendency to remember events and evidence that coincide with your views, and forgetting or ignoring those that do not.
Connection: Those that believe in the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin refer to carbon dating to support their belief, but those scientists who specialize in carbon dating state how being in a fire in the early 1500s would not explain why carbon dating would put the shroud at 650 years old. For the believers, carbon dating is a verified means of proving the truth so long as it confirms their truth.

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: Irrelevant information to distract from actual facts.
Connection: A great deal of scholarly debate and scientific inquiry has surrounded the material and geographic origin of the shroud, but this is ultimately irrelevant to the central question of the Shroud of Turin: Is that actually a silhouette of Jesus Christ in it?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
shroud of Turin - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The "shroud" of Turin is a woven cloth about 14 feet long and 3.5 feet wide with an image of a man on it. Actually, it has two images, one frontal and one rear, with the heads meeting in the middle.

# data[].attributes.body
The Shroud of Turin has had a number of blood spatters discovered on it, with chemical composition consistent with one enduring torture - an alarmingly painful length to go to for manufacturing a fraud.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Blood Splatter Discovered On Shroud Of Turin, Could Belong To Jesus Christ

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The shroud of Turin has been a constant debate as to whether or not it was indeed a cloth used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ. Some new studies may provide further evidence that it does contain the blood of Jesus, as well as more confusion amongst researchers.

# data[].attributes.body
Pollen grains have been found on the Shroud of Turin that Avinoam Danin, a botanist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem claims can only correspond to plants from the Dead Sea area. For the shroud to be a forgery, the creators would have to be extremely dedicated indeed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
shroud of Turin - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The "shroud" of Turin is a woven cloth about 14 feet long and 3.5 feet wide with an image of a man on it. Actually, it has two images, one frontal and one rear, with the heads meeting in the middle.

# data[].attributes.body
Definition: Causes that use courts, marches, campaigns, and so on to push a belief may be fueled more by ideology than by science.
Connection: The authenticity of the Shroud of Turin is argued most tenaciously by Christians, especially Catholics - their faith describes Jesus as a creator of miracles, and therefore all science surrounding the shroud's authenticity is either buttressing or overshadowed by Christ's divine power.

# data[].attributes.headline
REASON FOR BELIEF: Inability To Replicate

# data[].attributes.subject
REASON FOR BELIEF: Inability To Replicate

# data[].attributes.body
Modern technology has consistently failed to make a perfect replica of the Shroud of Turin, although impressive imitations have been made.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Shroud of Turin - revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb - is a man-made relic, according to scientists who reproduced a copy of the famous fabric.

Italian chemist Luigi Garlaschelli said his experiment proves that earlier carbon dating of the shroud to the 14th century was correct.

He used materials and techniques that were available in the Middle Ages to explain how a negative image of a crucified man could be imprinted centuries before the invention of photography.

Professor Garlaschelli said his team used the same type of woven linen as the shroud and first artificially aged by heating it in an oven and washing it with water.

The cloth was then placed on a student, who wore a mask to reproduce the face, and rubbed with red ochre, a well known pigment at the time.

The entire process took a week, said Professor Garlaschelli of the University of Pavia.

His replica even includes the spots which, on the original, were said to show blood seeping out of Christ's nailed hands and feet.

The scientists were commissioned by a group of sceptics and atheists called the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal.

Professor Garlaschelli today said: 'Many still believe that the shroud has unexplainable characteristics that cannot be reproduced by human means.

'But the result obtained clearly indicates that this could be done with the use of inexpensive materials and with a quite simple procedure.'

However, Professor Garlaschelli said he still expected people to challenge his research and insist the shroud, kept at Turin Cathedral, is real.

'If they don't want to believe carbon dating done by some of the world's best laboratories they certainly won't believe me.'

The shroud is first recorded in history around 1360 in the hands of a French knight - a late appearance that is one of the reasons why some scientists are skeptical of its authenticity.

Measuring 13ft long and 3ft wide, it has suffered severe damage during the centuries, including from fires.

Owned by the Vatican, it is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin's cathedral and is rarely shown.

The last public display was in 2000, when more than 1 million people turned up to see it, and the next is scheduled for 2010.

The Catholic Church makes no claims about the relic's authenticity, but says it is a powerful symbol of Christ's suffering.

The shroud has been strongly debated within the scientific community.

Some researchers claim that patches used in the Middle Ages to repair the cloth after a fire altered the carbon-dating results.

Another study, by the Hebrew University, concluded that pollen and plant images on the shroud showed it originated in the area around Jerusalem sometime before the eighth century.

The study considered to be the most definitive, however, was carried out in 1998 via separate tests by three institutions granted permission by the Vatican.

The chosen laboratories at the University of Oxford, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, used radio carbon dating on separate portions of the cloth.

They found the shroud dated from 1260-1390.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Scientists reproduce 'fake' Shroud of Turin to prove cloth is man-made

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Shroud of Turin - revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb - is a man-made relic, according to scientists who reproduced a copy of the famous fabric. Italian chemist Luigi Garlaschelli said his experiment proves that earlier carbon dating of the shroud to the 14th century was correct.